Park Life - Intersection under construction at Central Park

by Robin Craig.

Central Park is becoming a fully fledged neighbourhood in its own
right. That includes all the ups and downs that go on anywhere else in the
city.

Crime is present here, with lots of building materials on site, doors
windows and air conditioning units have been stolen from unfinished homes.
A completed model home was targeted by one group of enterprising thieves
who took advantage of the daytime viewing to set up an easy entry for
later that night.

They made a very thorough job of cleaning out the unit according to my
source. Not only the furniture was removed but also the art works hanging
on the walls! A security guard is now on site to hopefully stem the
thefts.

The neighbourhood has also had its share of noise complaints that have
kept City inspectors busy, even if Central Park is still not on their
computer list of street names. We have had the full range from noisy
neighbours holding outdoor parties, to yapping dogs to out of hours
construction noise.

The new road intersection onto Merivale is, as I write, under
construction. This will make turning north out of the area onto Merivale a
lot safer. I know I have had a number of close calls at this point.

Also constructed over the summer was a larger water main that required
digging up the road all the way down to Baseline. Let us hope that when
that is activated we can get rid of the red tinge to the water.

The plans from Ashcroft for the rest of the subdivision have been
submitted to council. They notably do not include the intersection onto
Clyde that is starting to be a very contentious issue. This was part of
the 1992 Ontario Municipal Board ruling on the Assaly lands, which Central
Park has absorbed into its western end.

How such a feature could have been omitted is very curious. I'm sure
that this issue will come back to be a focal point in the coming months.

Finally, a fledgling residents association within Central Park is
being formed, for more information call Bruce Cole and Katie Cleghorn at
798-9809.